Atomwaffen Division

The Atomwaffen Division was a white supremacist and neo-Nazi terrorist network and militia organization in the United States which was founded in 2015 by James Nolan Mason. Taking its name from the German word for "atomic weapons", the Atomwaffen Division was originally based in the American South and instructed its members in hand-to-hand combat and arms training. The organization, which opposed the US government, minorities, gays, and Jews, had plots to target power lines, nuclear reactors, and synagogues and to violently overthrow the United States government. Despite its far-right and anti-minority views, some members of the group sympathized with Salafism, praising Omar Mateen's massacre of gay clubbers in Orlando, Florida, while Atomwaffen Division member and convicted murderer Devon Arthurs described himself as a "Salafist National Socialist". By 2018, the Atomwaffen Division had an estimated 80 members, and they spread flyers on college campuses asking students to "Join Your Local Nazis!"